Recently I made a princess cookie basket for friend of the family. Her daughter was having some medical procedures done and I thought it might help make her feel better. Well, yesterday my mom told me that the friend said that the cookies were beautiful, but that they tasted so bad that the little girl wouldn't eat them!!! I thought that they tasted fine and me and my family ate a bunch of them. (Oops! I have been very bad at my Weight Watchers!) I had my mom taste some I made yesterday and she said that the icing has a bad aftertaste. I have been using the Antonia 74 icing recipe and I think it is great, but am wondering if anyone has any sugguestions for helping with the taste. I think that some people do not like the meringue powder taste. Can I use less meringue powder? Should I add flavor?

I am really feeling sad and self concious about my cookies now. I am still new to cookie decorating, and am learning the ropes. Any advice you have would be so appreciated. Thanks everyone.

Being kind and generous should give you a warm inner glow, not make you feel bad!

There are several possible reasons for the girl's reaction:

The side effect of some medications can cause food to have an off or even metallic taste.

She had never tasted meringue before and the flavor was unusual to her.

She just didn't feel good; was stressed by the hospital tests and nothing could make her less miserable.

She's used to store bought cookies w/super sweet frosting/filling.

I'm sure the cookies and frosting were fine

However, if you want an independent taste test, I'd be happy to pm you my address!

check your flavorings it may have gone bad. I made a fresh batch of SMBC I make this regularly. It had an after taste, I couldn't understand why as I tasted it during each step. went through all of my ingredients and it finally dawned on me that it was my vanilla as it is added just before frosting.

okay I just checked out the recipe. its the meringue powder that is giving the after taste. some people are sensitive to it others are not.

i hated the taste of royal icing when i first started making it and discovered that it was the meringue powder that gave an odd aftertaste. i started using lemon juice instead of water in the recipe and it tastes GREAT!!! just a tiny bit of fresh flavor. i suppose you could also use orange juice with no pulp...we used to use a glaze for muffins using sugar and oj. you can do an extract, but the fresh juice really tastes nice.

another thing to remember with royal icing is to make it so that it is incredibly thick. i think a sugar cookie is better when the icing is thin so it is just a hint of sweetness and it doesnt overpower the cookie.

I think that was very rude to say they tasted bad!!!! Ungrateful! Anyway, if you used the NfSC recipe and Antonia's icing I can't see how they wouldn't be fabulous! Something in one of the ingredients must have been bad. It is not you - keep with this recipe and icing and you will as the name of the cookie says "not fail" (ha, ha)

I really don't have nothing to add, but, I really can't believe someone would say they tasted bad! I think its kinda rude. Everyone has different tastes so I think they should have kept that opinion to themselves. I don't see how it could be bad either!

I wouldn't put too much value on one persons comments. I have a cold and right now nothing tastes good. Since you reference the girl was having medical procedures perhaps she was taking medication that messed with her taste buds. Plus, each person likes different things. My wife, believe it or not, doesn't like chocolate.

I add vanilla extract to antonia's recipe. But you have to remember to remove that amount of the water or the icing will be too thin.

You dont have to add meringue powder to your royal icing its just a stablizer but it doesnt need to be added....I also think it tastes weird.....

If your family and other people like them I wouldn't worry about it. My boys love decorated sugar cookies and always want me to make them but my husband and I won't touch them. It's not the icing we just don't like sugar cookies and I never liked them even when I was really little.

It was terribly rude of them to tell you that she didn't like them, it's the thought behind it that counts.

One thing I discovered after posting the recipe on here is that not all meringuepowders are equal. I use one that has a built-in vanilla flavouring and it is SO yummy and flavourful....but I've since learned that not all brands do!

So, do add a bit of vanilla/lemon/almond/etc. flavour to yours. I'd imagine that it would taste so plain otherwise?

As for the manners of the recipients of your cookie basket...I think next time you should save yourself the trouble and send them a book on etiquette instead. How rude!! Nice life-lesson for that mother to be teaching her daughter. Ingrate!

I agree that was pretty bad manners for them to tell you that they didn't taste good. sorry about that! I wish they would've just recognized what a loving, caring act it was! The amount of time invested to do that should never end up making you feel bad!

antonia74- that is interesting about the meringue powder. I just assumed they were all the same. Do you mind sharing which brand you buy so I could order some? I understand if you don't want to. I can always experiment and figure out which one agrees with our taste buds the most!

Did you smack them? HAHA

I buy mine in bulk by the 1kg bag ($25.25) at www.goldaskitchen.com
It's McCall's brand and it's fantastic! The flavour is so yummy.


http://www.goldaskitchen.com/merchant.ihtml?id=88&pid=3083&step=4

Don't be put off by the price! One bag makes enough royal icing for thousands of cookies, so the value is enormous. You can even split the cost with a friend if you don't use it that much.

I'm wonder what colours you used? Reds, dark blues purples & blacks have a bitter taste. Maybe it was not the cookie or icing at all but the colour????

Another thought, is the child really sick? Maybe her tastebuds are off?